Weather

I think the question that arose about weather during the times of trading of the thirteenth century is very interesting. It is obvious that weather plays a very important role in the trading systems. Since a lot of trade was done over seas, weather needed to be perfect for the trading to occur. Many students brought up the fact that many major natural disasters occured that may have broken ports or ships and deterred the traders from being able to receive and distribute goods, but during the time even a slight weather pattern could interrupt traders from sailing the seas to other countries. A simple storm on the sea could possibly set traders back days and even damage cargo, ships and sometimes be deadly.
Another reason why weather was an important factor for trading was because those who were taking their trip by land were also held back during times that weather was dangerous for travel.
Another interesting fact that was brought up during class was that weather was important for crops, which is an essential part of trade. If it rained too much the crops could be ruined and if it didn't rain at all, no crops would be growing for the traders.
We still weather as an important factor in our society today. Many natural disasters (such as Katrina) damage many businesses, causing them to lose their profits and goods; setting them back thousands of dollars and countless hours of work. Also, the same issues in the thirteenth century still hold true to fisherman today. Weather can keep fisherman from receiving the type of crop they are used to, and they put their lives in danger by setting out to complete their jobs in treacherous rains and storms.
It's interesting to think that something so important (but not quite focused on) is something that no one can control. While, technology and building supplies have been advanced since the thirteenth century, allowing ships to be more stable and tough enough to handle bad weather, there is still no way that we can stop weather from occuring or natural disasters from ruining people's lives.